Tag Archives: book

While 2016 seems to have taken a collective dump on civilization, we are proud of the books we released this year and the incredible and under-heard voices we published. Though 2016 is almost over, we will not go quietly. Read our books. Hear these voices. And on this Cyber of all Mondays, we invite you to support a non-profit while stuffing some fine literature into the stockings of your loved ones (and yourself).

We sent a copy of our forthcoming Black Candies: Gross and Unlikeable book to Brian Evenson, acclaimed literary horror author, and he had some very, very nice things to say. We can’t even begin to tell you how starstruck (and breathless) (and bleeding) we feel right now about this. Thank you, Brian!

“I’ve long thought that the most interesting work being done in a genre is being done on its fringes, by the people who those at the center fail to acknowledge: those marginalized writers haven’t drunk the Kool Aid yet.

Black Candies: Gross and Unlikeable is about what happens when women take over Horror, invert its tropes, turn them on their head, and make Horror do things that you didn’t know it could.

An important and razor-sharp anthology that will leave you breathless and bleeding.”

BRIAN EVENSON is the author of more than a dozen books of fiction, most recently the story collection A Collapse of Horses (Coffee House Press, 2015) and the critical book Ed Vs. Yummy Fur: Or What Happens When a Serial Comic Becomes a Graphic Novel (Uncivilized, 2014). His collection Windeye (2012) and the novel Immobility (2012) were both finalists for the Shirley Jackson Award. His novel Last Days won the 2009 ALA-RUSA Award). His novel The Open Curtain (2004) was a finalist for an Edgar Award and an International Horror Guild Award.

If you like what we do at So Say We All and want us to keep doing more of it, please consider becoming a supporting member. Details here.

Here it is. The gorgeous cover for the forthcoming edition of our anthology of literary horror and dark fiction by women, Black Candies: Gross and Unlikeable. Publication date: Black Friday, November 25th, 2016.

Gross and unlikeable is reality. When women tackle the stories that are handed down to them or muck about in the narratives bodies share or live in the liminal as they do in this collection, they aren’t evoking a theme, but destroying the lie of women tamed, of women just so.

Our anthology of true veteran literature, “Incoming: Veteran Writers on Coming Home” was published earlier this year. It’s a collection of real stories, written by veterans, in their own voices, on the theme of coming home. This is the book that launched a public radio show. Purchase copies on Amazon, tell your friends, tell your colleagues, tell your mom, tell your Goodreads friends. We hope you love it as much as we do.

Contributor Natalie Lovejoy wrote an original musical, “Deployed,” while married to a soldier who was currently deployed in Iraq. But her story, “Two Roads” takes on what happens when somebody comes home.

One reader contacted us after reading Natalie’s piece, to say:

“…I’m sobbing and am having trouble stilling my breath to find my voice. I have never felt that anyone understood what it meant to be a military wife; and quite rightly so because no one in my immediate circle was. You have put all of those feelings into a few short pages. Thank you for writing. Thank you for understanding.”

–Jessica W

We were so glad to feature Natalie’s story, “Two Roads” in Incoming. Here’s a short excerpt:

The GPS says it’s only thirty-four miles until the beltway. We are sitting in one of our car-trip formations: His eyes locked forward, his back soldier-straight, his jaw tight, his right hand gripping the steering wheel instead of my hand. I sit cross-legged, with my body and eyes tilted toward the passenger window.

[…]

…I’d learned to keep my outbursts to myself — in fact, it was my patriotic duty to do so. Don’t tell him about your problems because it will upset him, and he needs to focus on the mission. It’s okay for you to be upset but nor for him to be. Because what he’s doing is important and what you’re doing is not. Because his life is important and yours is not. At least not as important as his. This is your role in life, and you must accept it. You need to accept not mattering as much. But it’s really not so bad — you get a roof over your head, free dental cleanings, and tax-free shopping at the PX. Mattering is overrated. Calm down, woman, and treat yourself to a manicure.

Natalie’s piece is vulnerable, eye-opening, and brutally beautiful. Read the rest of her story, and many other stories on the theme of coming home, in a copy of Incoming. You can buy it from Amazon here.

Natalie Lovejoy is a composer, lyricist, and bookwriter whose work as been performed at Lincoln Center, 54 Below, the Flea Theater, and The Duplex, to name a few. Her original musical, Deployed, which she began writing while married to a soldier deployed to Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division, premiered off-off Broadway at the Abingdon Theatre Company in November 2013 and played again at the Gene Frankel Theatre in January 2014 to sold-out audiences. She is currently collaborating on three new musicals and is listed in the director of musical theater writers at contemporarymusicaltheatre.com. Her education includes NYU Steinhardt (MM in Music Composition), Catholic University (BM in Musical Theater), the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, and the Johnny Mercer Musical Theatre Project at Northwestern University. She is a Professional Member of ASCAP and The Dramatist Guild. www.natalielovejoy.nyc

Happy Independent Bookstore Day! Did you know we have our own indie bookstore? In addition to selling books at our shows and events, we also sell our titles online in our new online bookstore.

So Say We All Press is a very small and independent publisher, and we hope you’ll consider buying some of our fantastic books, non-fiction, fiction, poetry, art, everything. We love sharing stories with you.

INCOMING, our just-published collection of true veteran stories on the theme of coming home, was reviewed by Red Bull Rising.

Exploring themes of home, homecoming, and finding one’s place in the world, the anthology “Incoming” hits a sweet spot on the terrain of contemporary veteran-voiced literature, and is certain to expand and enrich future conversations between civilian and military populations.

The review gives a glowing account of the book’s composition: its themes, its significance, and the variety of contributors.

There is, in short, something for everyone in this book: the profane, the sublime, and the mundane.

Thank you, everyone at Red Bull Rising, for the thoughtful read and kind, insightful words. Go read the review here, and then pick up your own copy of INCOMING.

“What they have to say is often unbearable, sometimes hilarious, always compelling, and cinematic.” – Robin Young, NPR’s Here and Now.

The book that launched the public radio series is officially available! Featuring many of the contributors you’ve heard already, along with several you’ll hear when Incoming returns to the air this summer, Incoming: Veteran Writers on Returning Home is one of the most important new collections of modern war literature available. Featuring the true, poignant, funny, and brutally honest accounts by American veterans of their experience returning to civilian life, this collection stands as a beautiful piece of literature, an important historical document, and a powerful tool to help bridge the divide between civilians and their military.

Here’s how you can get your hands on it and help the project:

– Buy the book!– On Goodreads: mark the book as to-read, and once you’ve read it, rate it!
– Like the Incoming Facebook page!– Ask your friends to contribute to our fund to finish the Incoming Radio series!– If you’re going to AWP LA this week: come visit So Say We All at table 438! We’ll have copies of the book (along with other titles from our catalogue in supply), the officers of the organization will be there to shake your hand, and a full handle of decent rye whiskey is under the table that we’ll be happy to tip back with you.
– If you work in education and you think this important book will serve your classroom, contact us directly at info@sosayweallonline.com for the special education bulk rate, so we can get this title in your students’ hands as easily as possible.

Thank you all for being supporters of the written and spoken word, and helping So Say We All serve those who have served us all.
– Justin Hudnall, Executive Director

The great Cory Doctorow, editor of Boing Boing, would like you to read Black Candies. Boing Boing recently picked up Angus McIntyre’s Black Candies story, “Someone To Watch Over Me,” and we couldn’t be more proud. Maybe you should listen to Cory Doctorow when he tells you to buy a book.

We recently announced the publication of Black Candies: Surveillance from SSWA Press.

Black Candies is our literary journal dedicated to evolving and advancing the beloved horror genre. Each edition is themed, with special editorial attention paid to soliciting works from new voices, many of whom have published previously in other realms.

We’re never alone. Paranoia has replaced privacy. Secrets are the new currency. The strangers who watched from the street now watch from within. For our third issue of Black Candies, we found 11 smart, terrifying stories that explore the theme of “Surveillance” in explicit, implicit and abstract ways. These stories not only touch on the contradiction of the securities of our modern era, but unearth the deeper terror, paranoia, and anxiety that results.

So Say We All is pleased to announce the publication of Black Candies: Surveillance.

Black Candies is our literary journal dedicated to evolving and advancing the beloved horror genre. Each edition is themed, with special editorial attention paid to soliciting works from new voices, many of whom have published previously in other realms.

We’re never alone. Paranoia has replaced privacy. Secrets are the new currency. The strangers who watched from the street now watch from within. For our third issue of Black Candies, we found 11 smart, terrifying stories that explore the theme of “Surveillance” in explicit, implicit and abstract ways. These stories not only touch on the contradiction of the securities of our modern era, but unearth the deeper terror, paranoia, and anxiety that results.

Brian Krans, Bay Area author of the book Assault Rifles & Pedophiles: An American Love Story, is bringing his book tour to San Diego! The Radvocate magazine & SSWA are teaming up to present this very special reading show. Come on down to The Hideout to hear excerpts from the book as well as readings from local authors Ken Leek, Tiffany Tang & Anthony Muni Jr.